Vultures
by SilverShadowKitsune
Summary: A look at Jim's mind as he grows into the man we see during the movie, with the help of something his father left behind. Deals with TOS events


_Vultures_

I do not own Star Trek or John Mayer's _Vultures_. I highly recommend playing the song when you start reading.

Jimmy Kirk knew to keep quiet as he retreated from the room where his mother was crying, yet again. She always got like this, whenever Jimmy asked to know about his father. He was curious, and just wanted to know about the man who had given up his life to save others. Was that too much to ask, to just know?

Saddened by his mother and the things he could never truly know, Jimmy retreated up to the attic. Recently, he had started to look through the boxes up there, closed but not sealed, to keep himself occupied. Mommy got upset when he put stuff together to keep himself busy, so it was better to look at what already existed, rather than try to make something new.

Looking for a box he hadn't already explored, Jimmy found one labeled "George's." Recognizing the name as his father's, he quickly began to sort through the items inside. There were several antique CDs, an antique CD player with modified power source, some books, notebooks, and various knickknack things. Jimmy's hands went to the CD player, which held a disc labeled "John Mayer: Continuum."

Turning the player to random, Jimmy listened to the CD for a time, not really hearing anything, just trying to absorb the remnants of his father that had been left behind. One song, however, caught his wandering mind.

The lyrics were simple, but seemed strange to his young mind. In his imagination, he pictured his father singing the words, as a token to his son. Jimmy fell asleep to the dream that his father was alive, comforting him with words and music to fill his lonely nights.

_Some of us, we're hardly ever here_

_The rest of us, we're born to disappear_

_How do I stop myself from being just a number?_

_How will I hold my head to keep from going under?_

As the old jazz styled song played in his head, Jim Kirk was reminded of how fragile life could be. Holed up in a cave on Tarsus IV, the shivering form of Kevin Riley held in his arms, Jimmy began to realize just how fragile life was.

Here, Jim and Kevin were literally numbers, on the list from Kodos of those to be exterminated for the greater good of the colony. What good would it be to kill half the population now, if they would die another day anyway? How could this make sense to anyone? Jim hugged Kevin closer to him, trying to stop the boy's shivering.

As the troops rushed past their hiding spot again, Jim vowed to make sure at least Kevin got through this mess. If anyone had the right to live, it was the one who had yet to really experience life. And that's when Jim finally understood.

His father had died to save his mother's life, along with the rest of the Kelvin's crew. And it was only now that he was learning what his father had shown him. The life of one who has yet to live is far more important than one that has already experienced one. Nature always chooses the young and fit to live, over the older and experienced. New life must come forward, and nothing can stop that.

_Down to the wire_

_I wanted water but I'll walk_

_Through the fire if this is what it takes_

_To take me even higher_

_But I'll come through_

_When the World keeps_

_Testing me, testing me_

Jim's mind was made up. No more hiding and praying that they would live. It was time to make sure that they had an active part in their fate. With that, Jim stood, Kevin's form still in his arms. They left their safe spot, and ventured further into the dangerous world that Tarsus IV had become.

Soon, they found other children, and Jim managed to lead them. He found them food, kept them safe from the patrols, and made sure as many survived as he could. Even at the expense of himself. He had already been given a chance to live by his father; it was time that he gave the same gift to someone else for once.

Imagine his surprise when they managed to hold out until Starfleet arrived, without losing one of Jim's group of 14 children. They had all rated high on Kodos' list, but somehow they managed to live until help could arrive. Jim could barely move of his own free will by the time Starfleet found them, but as he was shipped up to the starship, he could only smile. _I walked through the fire, and we made it._

_How did they find me here?_

_What do they want from me?_

_All of these vultures hiding right outside my door_

_I hear them whispering_

_They're trying to ride it out_

_They've never gone this long without a kill before_

Jim Kirk could not believe was Captain Pike was saying to him. "Genius level repeat offender? I dare you to do better?" What kind of crap was the man trying to shove on Jim? He had seen more than Pike could probably imagine, why would he want to find more? He had seen enough death and despair, both on Tarsus and at home.

But then he started to think of how he had been before he stood up in that cave. How resigned he was that he would die, that he wouldn't be able to protect Kevin. His whole life had changed because he decided to stand. What could happen to others, out there in the black, if they didn't have a reason to stand like Jim did?

Then he remembered the hecklers from the bar in the last town he had stayed in. How they had known his father's legacy, and mocked him for where he was. They were so sure that he would be stuck in the bottom of a bottle by now, and he had been close to doing so. Could Jim really give in to such petty words?

No way. He had survived a catastrophe at the moment of his birth, a genocide in his youth, and the breakdown of a woman's life. And he hadn't kicked the bucket yet, so there must be something more to do with his life. Dying out in the stars had to be better than dying in a ditch, right?

Jim got on his bike, to remind himself exactly what Pike was offering, and headed for the shipyards. The towering hulk of the ship's skeleton, bare to the night sky, was still incomplete. Even through the inky night, he could still make out the faint numbers on the various pieces of metal. NCC-1701. And in that moment, Jim knew what to do.

He revved his bike, the engine snarling as he tore through the dusty land. He got his things, and headed to the shuttle. Once he saw Pike, Jim finally had a comeback to all the statements from the night before.

"You said four years, right? I'll do it in three."

_Down to the wire_

_I wanted water but I'll walk_

_Through the fire if this is what it takes_

_To take me even higher_

_But I'll come through_

_When the World keeps_

_Testing me, testing me_

Jim was pretty sure that the guy from the shuttle, McCoy, was supposed to be a test himself, with the way he was in the bottom of his hip flask. Jim saw the same look in McCoy that he found in Kevin, that first day of hell. But McCoy was too big to put in his arms and carry like he did back then. So Jim had slung an arm over his shoulder and did his best to help support McCoy, who became Bones in his head, through the hurdles of alien biology, overcoming his fear of flight and anything related to space, and the pain of being separated from his daughter.

Somehow, fate kept sending him broken and battered souls, expecting him to fix them. And as long as they kept coming, Jim would do his best to help them. Somehow that evolved into helped peers on study night before the xeno-linguistics test, or keeping others-now friends- from drinking too much at parties. All the while, he aced his classes, tested out of lower levels, and astounded members of the school board.

_You put me to the wire, and I'll just send the current down, _Jim thought as he took the Kobayashi Maru for the second time. _And if I don't pass it this time, I'll keep trying, 'cause I'll come through all your tests._

_Wheels up_

_I've got to leave this evening_

_I can't seem to shake these vultures off my trail_

_Power is made_

_By power being taken_

_So I'll keep on running to protect my situation_

James Tiberius Kirk sighed as he dodged another reporter at the Starfleet Academy. Even since Nero had been defeated and the _Enterprise _had successfully returned to Earth, the press had been hounding the bridge crew endlessly, Jim in particular. _You'd think they would have more important things to focus on, like the 6 ships that were destroyed and all the people that were lost. Or the entire planet that was wiped off the map in an instant._

"Jim!" A voice rang out from behind him. He turned to see Bones in a trot, following him. "God, you think the vultures would finally be off our backs by now, yeah?"

"You said it, Bones. I cannot wait to ship out tomorrow. Sure you can handle things out in the black?"

Bones scoffed. "If I can handle the insanity that is your life, I'm pretty sure I can handle space. But I have to wonder what we're going out there for."

"Well, I'm going out there to make sure a power vacuum doesn't form now that Vulcan's gone. Can you imagine what the Romulans and Klingons would do if we just sat at home and tried to get things under control again? They would have free reign of the quadrant, and I for one would not let them have that chance. Not with so many lives out there at risk."

Bones nodded his head in silent agreement. "So have you picked a First Officer yet?"

"Don't get me started on that, Bones. Stupid Vulcan won't answer any communications to him, so I'm dead in the water."

"Still don't know why you want the hobgoblin on the ship anyway. You two just fight all the time."

"I have a feeling that we'd be great together, Bones. If we can just get past our first meeting, it will be amazing. But he won't answer communications from Pike either, so I don't know what to do."

"We'll do what we always do, Jim. We'll get through by the skin of our teeth, just like every other time."

_Down to the wire_

_I wanted water but I'll walk_

_Through the fire if this is what it takes_

_To take me even higher_

_But I'll come through_

_When the World keeps_

_Testing me, testing me_

_ So it was all a test? _ Jim thought, as he saw Spock walk onto the Bridge. The Vulcan asked for permission to come abroad, and then submitted himself as a candidate for First Officer. _As if I would choose someone else over him. _Jim could only grin in response to the statement that Spock could offer character references. He knew, from his own intuition and from the other Spock's reactions, that the only possible First Officer for Jim was Spock.

_We've been through the fire, and now all there's left to do is go as high as we can. _As Jim ordered Sulu to take them out, he smiled with pride at what he had faced and how far he had come. And he knew that things could only get better now.

_What'cha gonna do about it?  
What'cha gonna do about it?  
What'cha gonna do about it?_

_Don't give up, give up_

_Don't give up, give up, give up_


End file.
